Arjun Muralidharan — Photo: K Murali Kumar

BANGALORE: What a feeling! Four golds out of four races and all with records. Arjun Muralidharan couldn't have asked for better as he once again inched his way to the coveted `Best Swimmer' title, which is now there for the asking.

On the penultimate day of the LIC senior National championship, Arjun had the crowd roaring for more as he smashed his own meet marks in both the 50m backstroke and 200m butterfly events. He rewrote his own 50m mark of 27.97s set in 2005, clocking 27.63 seconds which was also the Indian best. Half an hour later, he ended the day on a high note, clocking 2:04.56s in the 200m butterfly, bettering his meet best of 2:05.13s set in 2005. Arjun finished well ahead of Rehan Poncha, who was in hot pursuit all the way, and who had to be content with silver at 2:07.70s.

The swimmers from Police took all the four golds that were at stake in the men's section. Besides, Arjun, Rohit Kumar won the 50m breast stroke in 30.88 seconds, while Mandar Divase defended his 1500m title in 16:44.21s which was, however, below his meet record of 16:32.44s and his own India best of 16:17.58s set in SAF Games in Colombo last month.

Charu realises a goal

Charu Misra of Police came up with a gritty display in the gruelling 1500m freestyle for women. The hard working Charu, who trained mainly for this event, saw her efforts pay off as she clocked the Indian best of 18:30.54s, subduing a determined Pooja Alva's challenge. Charu's show put in shade Nisha Millet's record of 18:42.72s set in the Kolkata Nationals in 2003.

There was more joy in store for her as her younger sister Richa took her second gold in the meet winning the 200m butterfly in 2:20.44s ahead of Karnataka teenager, Madhavi Giri.

Mini wins gold

Earlier, M. Mini fetched Kerala's first gold, winning the 50m breaststroke and Fariha Zaman of Assam claimed her second gold of the meet winning the 50m backstroke in 32.12 seconds.

Meanwhile, Yogesh Watve broke Viraj Patil's hold in the diving championship, when he won gold in the men's one metre springboard event with 317.45 points.

Viraj was out of the event with faulty efforts — reverse dive with a degree of difficulty of 2-1/2 and the forward dive with a degree of difficulty at 3-1/2. Railways made sure of the team title in diving, thanks to a superb display from Hruthika Shriram, who made a clean sweep in the women's section.

Karnataka led the medals tally with 11 gold, 18 silver and nine bronze followed by Police (11-4-6).

The results:

Swimming: men: 1500m freestyle: 1. Mandar Anand Divase (Police, 16:44.21s), 2. Rohit Hawaldar (Kar, 16:48.33), 3. Aaron D'Souza (Kar, 16:49.74).

50m backstroke: 1. Arjun Muralidharan (Police, 27.63, Best Indian Performance, Old Record: 27.97s, Arjun Muralidharan (Police) 2005), 2. N.A. Sandeep (Kar, 28.00), 3. Sunil (SSCB, 29.12).

50m breaststroke: 1. Rohit Kumar (Police, 30.88), 2. Sandeep Sejwal (Del, 31.24), 3. Gairik Bardhan (Rly, 31.36).

200m butterfly: 1. Arjun Muralidharan (Police, 2:04.56. New National Record, OR: 02:05.13, Arjun Muralidharan (Police), 2005), 2. Rehan Poncha (Kar, 02:07.70), 3. Amar Muralidharan (Police, 02:09.04).

Women: 1500m freestyle: 1. Charu Mishra (Police, 18.30.54, Best Indian Performance, OR: 18:42.72, Nisha Millet (Karnataka) 2003), 2. Pooja R. Alva (Kar, 18:42.96), 3. Aarti Ghorpade (Mah, 18:49.96).

50m backstroke: 1. Fariha Zaman (Asm, 32.12), 2. Sumi Cyriac (Rly, 32.63), 3. Parita Parekh (Guj, 33.30).

50m breaststroke: 1. M. Mini (Ker, 37.55), 2. V. Tejasvini (Kar, 37.78), 3. M.S. Divya (AP, 37.83).

200m butterfly: 1. Richa Mishra (Police, 2:20.44), 2. Madhavi Giri (Kar, 2:24.89), 3. Pooja R. Alva (Kar, 2:24.98).

Diving: Men: 1m springboard: 1. Yohesh Hari Watwe (SSCB, 317.45pts), 2. T. Hariprasad (RSPB, 305.35), 3. Ramit Datta (Police, 277.60.

Waterpolo: Men: SSCB 17 (S. Sumanta 4, Martin Joseph 3, S. Das 3, Sreekumar 2, Jayakumar 2, James Metei 2) bt Police 9 (S.L. Gopakumar 4, Jeet Mohan 2); Railways 13 (Sandeep Dutta 4, Biswajit Das 3, Sudipto Goswami 2) bt Bengal 0.

Women: Maharashtra 4 (Deepti Motghare 3) bt Karnataka 3 ; Kerala 4 bt Police 3 (Purnima Pal 2).

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu